A Matriarch's Wisdom, a star book structure with three printed and hand cut layers

A print by Haida printmaker Robert Davidson, Dogfish, that was converted into a flagbook

A print by Haida printmaker Robert Davidson, Dogfish, that was converted into a flagbook

Even though she was in the U.S. Air Force for six years, Rinda Edelman always knew she wanted to be an artist.

Originally from Colorado, Edelman’s mother was in the U.S. Army. When she retired, they moved to Hawaii, where Edelman graduated from high school and eventually joined the Air Force.

“I’ve always loved art,” she said. “Unfortunately there was not a lot of employment in Hawaii. Joining the Air Force kind of detoured me, but as soon as I got out I knew I wanted to do something in the art field.”

Today, Edelman, 30, is living her dream, enrolled as a graphic design major at Moore. She transferred to the College last fall from Delaware Technical & Community College in Dover, Delaware, where her husband Michael is stationed in the Air Force. The couple have two young children.

“I originally started out as an interior design major at Del Tech but took a color and composition class and fell in love with it,” she said. “So I switched my major to ad design. It goes hand in hand with the graphic design program here at Moore.”

Edelman came to Moore after two of her professors at Del Tech – Joyce Newcomb and Donna Felton – encouraged her to visit the campus and take a tour.

“I came to Moore and really fell in love with the atmosphere and the environment,” she said. “I absolutely love my classes and especially enjoyed a book arts class my first semester. It really opened me up to new things I hadn’t done before, which is another thing I love about the classes here.”

Even though she’s a few years older than most of the students at Moore, Edelman said she never feels out of place because everyone is friendly.

“I’ve met a couple of students my age,” she said. “I feel like everyone at Moore is very talented so the age gap doesn’t really factor in.”

Commuting from Dover each day for classes can be difficult, but Edelman said her husband is very supportive of her decision to go back to school. And they get help from family and friends.

“My husband was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan several times in the past,” she said. “I was in the military for two of his deployments. It was very hard. But we had lots of help from co-workers. Now that we’re in Delaware it’s easier because we have family in Pennsylvania.”

When she’s not busy with her studies, Edelman works on her website on ETSY, where she sells decals (wall graphics) and hopes to eventually have her own design business. She said she learned discipline and time management during her time in the Air Force, skills that have been helpful when it comes to her work at Moore.